Melody Maker
historical British weekly pop/rock music newspaper (1926–2000)
Melody Maker was a British weekly music magazine, one of the world's earliest music weeklies; according to its publisher, IPC Media, the earliest. In January 2001, it was merged into "long-standing rival" (and IPC Media sister publication) New Musical Express (NME).
1920s–1940s
Melody Maker was founded in 1926 by Leicester-born composer and publisher Lawrence Wright as the house magazine for his music publishing business, often promoting his own songs. Two months later it had become a full scale magazine, more generally aimed at dance band musicians, under the title The Melody Maker and British Metronome. It was published monthly from the basement of 19 Denmark Street in London (soon relocating to 93 Long Acre), and the first editor was the drummer and dance-band leader Edgar Jackson (1895-1967).
Jackson instigated a jazz column, which gained in credibility once it was taken over by Spike Hughes in 1930. This was later developed into "Jazz Corner", edited by Sinclair Traill and then Max Jones, one of the leading British proselytizers for jazz. There were regular reports on jazz happenings in the United States, and the magazine secured the first British interview with Louis Armstrong in July 1932 while he was over for a visit.
Odhams Press took over the magazine in 1928, and the format was changed to a 16 page weekly newspaper in 1933. Ray Sonin joined the staff in 1939, progressing to news editor and then 10 years as managing editor until 1951.
The public source identifies “Melody Maker” as historical British weekly pop/rock music newspaper (1926–2000). This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Melody, Maker and historical.
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The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 20, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q580896. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2001, 1926, 1895 and 1967.
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This entry incorporates text from “Melody Maker” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.